By JAKE WANEK
Special to the Saint Mary's Sports Information Office
 
ST. PAUL — Throughout much of the season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team has enjoyed success away from the friendly confines of its home court at Saint Mary's Gym — getting four of its first six victories away from campus.
 
 Entering Saturday's game at Schoenecker Arena on the campus of St. Thomas, the Cardinals were hoping that early road prosperity would continue against one of the hottest teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
And after a slow start, Saint Mary's started to look more and more comfortable.
 
In the end though, the 11th-ranked Tommies proved to be too much on their home floor as they topped the Cardinals 87-64 on Saturday afternoon.
 
With Saint Mary's trailing 29-13 with 8:36 in the first half, it looked as though St. Thomas would have no problem cruising to its 14 win in a row. But then the Cardinals started to settle in. Saint Mary's went on a 13-3 run to cut the lead to six — getting multiple buckets from Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) and Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.), along with a 3-pointer from Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.)
 
The Cardinals would get the lead down to four minutes later on a nifty give-and-go feed from Caden Freetly to Cave, cutting the Tommies lead to 34-30.
 
With UST looking for answers on how to stop the run, the Tommies finally found it in guard Ryan Lindberg. The 6-foot-3 sophomore drained two of his three first half 3-pointers including a dagger from the top of the key with just two seconds left on the clock to give the Tommies a 9-point halftime lead. Lindberg scored 15 of his team-high 18 points in the first half.
 
St. Thomas also got 11 points from both Michael Hannon and GT Johnson. The Tommies shot 45% (29-for-65) from the floor.
 
Cave led Saint Mary's in scoring, as he poured in a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting. David Lindstrand (Lakeville, Minn.) added 10 and Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) chipped-in nine for the Cardinals, which finished 44% (24-for-54) from the field.
 
Saint Mary's (2-10 MIAC, 6-11 overall) will be back on the road Wednesday, as they head to Collegeville, Minn. to take on St. John's University at Sexton Arena in a 7 p.m. MIAC match-up.